Bradford Park Avenue Ladies win at Crossflatts to go top

There were a few games being held on Sunday and to be totally honest, the choice was made for me – considering the top two in the league were playing each other.

What league? What top two? I hear you ask.

Well, as you may or may not know [depending on whether you have read any of my previous match reports], I have reserved each Sunday to cover women’s cricket (if there are games going ahead), and the league that covers Bradford, Leeds, Harrogate and Halifax is the West Yorkshire Women & Girl’s Cricket League Division One.

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This league is really close, with anyone from possibly fifth or sixth and up still in with a chance of being crowned champions (certainly the top four are still in the hunt).

However, it was Crossflatts Women’s 1st XI and Bradford Park Avenue Ladies sitting in the top two spots at the start of the day.

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I’ve never been to Crossflatts Cricket Club before, so it was a little bit of a journey into the unknown, driving for just about 45 minutes through Otley and up over the hills to reach the small village.

First time at Crossflatts

The club is nicely signposted off the main road, but as soon as I got into the lane leading down to the club, I had a few qualms about where I had turned in to, as there appeared to be a lot of construction going on.

However, I drove past the temporary metal fencing put up and found a spot right outside the pavilion, which couldn’t have been more perfect as the car was parked partially in the shade – and by that point, it was proving to be a scorcher of a day!

Walking around the side of the pavilion, I spotted the two umpires standing in the middle of the oval, stumps already in place over an hour ahead of first ball.. and I thought I was keen!

Introductions and chats with the team captains had, I went for my customary walk around the boundary rope, and as this was my first time at the club, it was very much a walk of discovery.

Housing drama (still)

For those not familiar with the ground, the club is just off the main road and sits next to the rugby ground which is home to Keighley Albion ARLFC.

To one side of the pavilion is a set of houses that appear to be in the latter stages of being built, painfully close to the boundary, and I can foresee multiple visits by glaziers to replace those windows and the panes of glass in a nice set of bi-folding doors that hover strangely over ten feet up the wall (I assume a balcony is going to be installed at some point).

At the bottom of the ground and facing back towards the pavilion is a huge office building nearing completion.

At one corner of the ground is what I mistook for a train station car park…but on closer inspection, it appears to be something to do with the office construction, with big signs attached to poles that say, ‘Visitor Parking’.

Behind the construction site [on one side of the valley] is a view of the hills that tower over the village, and I believe are home to Ravenroyd Equestrian, Bingley St. Ives Golf Club, Shipley Golf Course, the River Aire, Betty’s Woods and The Druid’s Altar!

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The cricket club has a healthy slope that means the ground falls away from the pavilion down towards the opposite side. Any balls hit or missed by the keeper would be given a helping hand to the boundary by the lie of the land.

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As first ball approached, I settled down at the bottom of the oval, taking advantage of shade provided by the few trees between the club and the office development.

Unfortunately, there was a generator roaring away, drowning out any polite conversation that could be had…and at the same time emanating a pervasive smell of exhaust fumes.

Not the best start to the game to be honest, but to put your mind to rest, a little while into the first innings a nice construction worker wandered lazily across to switch off the noisy equipment, and allow a calm to settle over the cricket ground.

Can(t) do attitude 😁

Crossflatts won the toss and put Bradford Park Avenue into bat, probably a decision they regretted as the visitors took full advantage of the conditions.

Opener Connie Cant was particularly impressive as she took on the Crossflatts attack. Connie is an exceptional player, having played for Hampshire Under 17’s and the UK Armed Forces (which I believe she broke the men’s and women’s inter-services T20 cricket record with her score of 125 not out).

Connie showed off a wide repertoire of strokes as she quickly reached her 50 and was heading for her century when she misjudged a reverse sweep and was given leg before, departing the crease having scored 85 off 51 balls, hitting 13 fours and one six.

Batting unit

To be fair, the other batters weren’t hanging around either, with captain Kirsty Gavillet, Beatrice Tootill, Moskan Akbar, Deepa Chukkapalli and Emily Easingwood all showing brilliant form with the bat. By the close of their innings, Bradford Park Avenue had reached 251 for four.

As the players got out of the blistering sun, I grabbed a drink and something to eat and contemplated what I had just witnessed.

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This was probably the best innings of women’s grassroots cricket that I have seen this season, and considering Bradford had managed to get to around 110 in around ten overs, I had wondered at one point if they could reach 300.

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Half time entertainment was eyeing the umpires anxiously watching two young children riding their bikes around the outfield…venturing towards the infield a few times…until their mum appeared and guided them towards the shade of the trees.

As I took up position at the boundary rope for the reply, I looked around a ground that was alive with activity.

Honestly, it was nice to see so many families and spectators dotted around the perimeter, enjoying the nice sunshine and cricket, including a number of the men’s first-eleven there to support the women’s team.

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The buzz of chatter, drinks and food all added to the fantastic community feel of the afternoon and one that isn’t always reproduced at other grounds. Simply wonderful.

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Crossflatts came out to take on the Park Avenue bowlers but found it difficult to hit as freely as their opponents had, falling behind the required run rate almost immediately, and by the tenth over they were completely off the pace.

Crossflatts falter

Please don’t get the idea that Crossflatts were in any way poor – it’s just that their opponents had batted superbly and were backing that up with some accurate bowling.

Wickets were falling regularly, but the home team were still putting on runs and building towards a century. It looked like Crossflatts would bat out their 30 overs, but a couple of quick wickets in the 25th and 26th overs meant that the visitors managed to bowl them out and win by 141 runs.

Anna James, Charlotte Boulton and Rebecca Warriner impressed with the bat for Crossflatts; Tayaba Parveen was a standout with the ball (four wickets for just 24 runs) for the visitors.

At the end of Sunday, Bradford Park Avenue Ladies sit proudly at the top of Division One, with Crossflatts in second place, just ahead of North Leeds in third.

Coming up soon

Next week Crossflatts travel to play a good Menston side, North Leeds entertain Harrogate, and Bradford Park Avenue Ladies make the short trip to Skipton. It’s all getting rather exciting at the top of the table!

A final word about Crossflatts Cricket Club. This is one of those gems of a community club that you come across in Yorkshire (I’m sure elsewhere too), that embodies the spirit of the grassroots game.

I look forward to returning at some point soon.

MATCH PHOTOS

Want to read more?

Thanks to Mark for capturing the highlights of Crossflatts vs Bradford Park Avenue Ladies in the West Yorkshire Women and Girl’s Cricket League (Division One).

Here are all of Mark’s articles and photos on Cricket Yorkshire.

To see more of his photography, you can visit caughtlight.com or he’s @caughtlight on Twitter/X.

There’s also the Caught Light Photography Facebook page.

I also highly recommend his blog called Leica Moments that include days out at grounds around North Yorkshire.